Murti: Yankees not discussing re-signing Joba

Via Sweeny Murti: The Yankees have not discussed re-signing Joba Chamberlain. A dozen unnamed teams have already spoken to him and his agent since free agency officially opened on Tuesday. It’s not surprising New York is not considering bringing him back — the writing has been on the wall for months now.

Joba, 28, had a 4.93 ERA (5.64 FIP) in 42 innings this season and was especially dreadful in the second half (6.53 FIP). I’m sure plenty of teams are looking at him as a change of scenery guy and heck, if he’d spent the last six years pitching for some other team, chances are we’d be considering him as a buy-low candidate for a team in need of bullpen depth. I can’t be the only one thinking Chamberlain will wind up posting a 2.00-ish ERA with the Rays next season, right?

Joba doesn’t improve if he’s the same fat lazy bum we’ve seen for a couple of years. Yes he had some horrendous injuries, luck and dumbness. But a better work effort would have overcome them. New team, same attitude adds up to more of the same.

Andrew

Yes hilarious those crafty Rays! LOL just always getting that extra edge thanks to their laid back attitude, lack of fans and organizational philosophy of “be cheap and sign assholes”. Joba will fit right in since he emobides short-term success and hype followed by no real tangible accomplishments of any kind.

Ed

Early in the year I was thinking he’d start for the Royals after they added Wade Davis and Ervin Santana to their rotation. But after how bad Joba was this year, I’ve given up on the “one last chance to start” idea. Rays seem to make sense.

qwerty

Perhaps for their bullpen, but not their starting rotation. It would be funny to watch him dominate as a closer for them. I’d be laughing my ass off if that happened. If I’m Joba, I sign up with Seattle.

Steve in NJ

Joba the hut will have a great year in Tampa that crap always happens. Example farnsworth and Rodney and all yanks fans will be like shoulda keep joba lol

tcmiller30

I hope he goes somewhere and starts.. It’s very unlikely, I know. But I still want to see it. And I want to see him dominate.

Eric

You have a better chance of becoming pope.

TCmiller30

Well obviously.. I’m incredibly close to becoming pope.

JU

2.00 ERA, huh…As a starter or reliever? Heyyyyooooo

Joel

Joba doesn’t know how to pitch. You can get by with great stuff and decent control, but when your stuff slips, you have to be smart. Joba is dumb, dumb, dumb. He’ll never be great. He has an outside shot at serviceable.

TCmiller30

Shouldn’t he just be listening to what the catchers tell him to do? The past few years he’s been pitching to “great defensive catchers” in Martin and Stewart. What’s the excuse? Does he just shake em off all the time?

Nathan

It’s not like Joba is the first guy with great stuff that just can’t put it together. Some guys just will never put it together.

I think he’ll maybe have a few decent years with a club, if he can get into shape, but he won’t be as dominant that everyone thought he would be after those late 2007 months.

CashmanNinja

I actually think Joba could put up terrific numbers — just not on the Yankees. He’s a classic example of someone who just needs a change of scenery. I believe his days of starting are in the past. The shoulder and ankle problems are going to limit him a bit, in my opinion. I think his best bet is to stay in the ‘pen now, even though I was one who wanted him in the rotation. The point of the matter is that he’s just too accustomed to New York. If he stays then nothing will change and he’ll keep being what he was last year. He needs a new team. New faces, new teammates, new coaches. It’ll rekindle that spark he had. Remember when he first came up and he’d go all crazy with the fist pump after a big K? I can’t remember seeing him do that in a while. Now he’s kind of surprised if he gets a strikeout in a big spot. He’ll do much better on another team, but his time in pinstripes just hasn’t worked out which is a shame. I think the popularity went to his head and he needs to go to a place where he’ll be able to rehab his value completely.

The Other Matt

He’ll end up somewhere next season and will do a decent to good job. The guy still has pretty good stuff and can get guys out. Not even speaking about whether or not he was misused by the Yankees organization throughout his career here, but you could just tell this year he didn’t have any confidence on the mound this season. Part of the reason why Joba was such a dominant force earlier on was not just his velocity on his fastball and above-average slider, but he just oozed confidence on the mound. You could tell he was confident in himself early on in his career, and it showed. Which is why many hitters were pissed when he showed emotion when on the mound, because there was nothing they could do about it. He can be a very good piece to another team’s bullpen and I definitely can see him as a setup guy on some team in the 7th or 8th inning. The guy will be motivated to get his career back on track, and I fully expect him to be an above average reliever for some team next season.

Dro413

Joba sucks!! I can’t stand this guy. If the Yanks sign him again, they have major issues.

Eselquetodolosabe

Joba…, Rays…, Change-up…, Facial hair freedom…, hmmm, stay tuned !

EndlessJose

Joba’s name should never be uttered again on this board.

Smart Guy

He will go to the Whitesox, Cooper will make him the Ace we should of had

Chris in Maine

I wonder how many times we will read that Joba “is in the best shape of his life.” Funny how many times you see that after someone has sucked that bad.

Barry

I just feel like he has Cardinals written all over him.

ClusterDuck

Joba still had a 95 to ~98 MPH fastball.

The problem is that his fastball and slider seems to have lost movement, which is what I think is typical for a pitcher their first year back from TJ surgery.

I would sign Joba as a reliever if I was the Yanks.

Wolfgang’s Fault

Ditto! Nothing to lose & plenty to gain if they can get him back on track.

http://www.twitter.com/mattpat11 Matt DiBari

Thank Christ

John

They say you can’t teach speed, i say you can’t coach stupid…

Kevin Ocala, Fl

The Yankees “Would” be looking to sign both players if they played somewhere else. They are stupid as hell letting talented arms just walk, especially so since they’ve gotten past the dreaded 25 year point without a shoulder blowing. And a hell of a lot of pitchers “figure it out” in their late twenties, quite a few who made it to the HALL. The Yankees should be able to get them on the cheap, even go so far as to give them 3 years. If later in the year they are still healthy, they could still bring in talent. The brass must know a hell of a lot of things that I’m not privy too. Oh, and not offering Granderson a three year contract NOW is folly, when they’ll wind up paying 5/$100 million for anything close to his talent. Example: Shoo is reported to want 7/126 mil. Everyone talks about his OBP. and what a great lead-off hitter he is. Well, how many know that he was hit TWENTY-SIX times last year? Yeah, in his walk year. He’s a nice player, but IMHO, he’s not Granderson. NFW.

Nathan

Just to complete it, he’ll end up going to the Red Sox and growing his facial pubes out.

Fin

The man, has serious MLB talent. Most likely its not a change of scenery that will make him a better pitcher, but maybe a wake up call. I don’t think there has ever been one report on how serious he takes his job, or how hard he works at his craft. I’m not talking about physical conditioning. I think hes just fine being a husky dude. Seems hes needs to take his craft a bit more serious. I don’t hold the Yankees in the least bit responsible for how Joba’s career has gone. They gave him more opportunities than they give most, and he never earned more than he got.

On a side note, I like the guy a lot and will root for him as long as hes not in the ALE.

Captain Turbo

I don’t care if he goes to the Red Sox. Good bye and good riddance, fat man.

Mike B.

Amen!

David in Cal

Kevin — I’m with you on Granderson. The Yanks should be trying to sign him on a reasonably priced multi-year contract I don’t understand why the Yanks aren’t higher on him. He had a terrible year in 2013, but it was entirely due to two freak injuries.

Well, maybe the Yanks are trying to sign him, but the negotiations are secret.